“The witching hour, somebody had once whispered to her, was a special moment in the middle of the night when every child and every grown-up was in a deep deep sleep, and all the dark things came out from hiding and had the world to themselves.”
After finishing the last page of this incredibly intruiging book, I immediately wanted to reread it to my little sister.
I picked The BFG up right after watching the newly released trailer and I’m so happy that I did. The trailer alone looked beautiful, so I had to start the book and discover the magic of Roald Dahl again.
This story follows a young orphaned girl named Sophie, living in a girl’s orphanage. One night during the witching hour, Sophie sees a cloaked giant, the ‘BFG’.
Sophie quickly befriends the friendly giant as they set out on an adventure to capture the evil, man-eating giants who have been invading the human world.
I’m so glad that I took the time to read this, it really surprised me and managed to make me laugh more than I was expecting.
But it took me quite a few pages to get used to the Giant’s voice:
‘What sort of human beings do you eat?’ she asked, trembling.
‘Me!’ shouted the Giant, his mighty voice making the glass jars rattle on their shelves. ‘Me gobbling up human beans! This I never! The others, yes! All the others is gobbling them up every night, but not me! I is a freaky Giant! I is a nice and jumbly Giant! I is the only nice and jumbly Giant in Giant Country! I is THE BIG FRIENDLY GIANT! I is the BFG.’
And the overall storyline was a little slow for me. I kept searching for things to do after reading a page or two. But once I finished the first half, I started to really enjoy the adventures of Sophie and the BFG.
Also, the illustrations this book provided were wonderful, they really helped me understand and imagine the world more clearly. And I was always looking forward for the next illustration to show up in the story.
3/5 stars
Note: I’m an Amazon Affiliate. If you’re interested in buying The BFG, just click on the image below to go through my link. I’ll make a small commission!
Early reports are suggesting this isn’t going to do well, unfortunately. I’m not surprised—unless people know about the book, all they’ve got to go on are the trailers. Which tell us there are giants in it. And a little girl in pajamas. As Bryan Singer and everybody else who worked on Jack the Giant Slayer a few years ago will tell you, people just aren’t into giants these days.
I’d like to be wrong about that, because it’s Spielberg and he used to be so perfectly tuned into the zeitgeist of the moment it was scary.
LikeLike